People torn limb from limb is big news ... unless it occurs in an abortion clinic

Ever since those two bombs of unknown origin and motive exploded in Boston on Monday afternoon, the story has dominated the nation's front pages and television screens. And appropriately so; the blasts injured about 170 people and killed three more – one of them an 8-year-old boy.

At the same time, a Philadelphia “doctor” has been on trial for killing nearly three times as many people using methods arguably even more callous and inhumane – and most major news organizations have downplayed or even ignored the carnage.

But that's how it goes when a supposedly noble cause feels compelled to hide its true nature. Nor is the case of Kermit Gosnell the only recent example of how desperately the politics of abortion have come to depend upon denial, cowardice, stupidity and outright lies.

Technically speaking, abortion rights are not on trial in Pennsylvania. The 72-year-old Gosnell is accused of killing seven babies born alive after the 24-week gestation period protected by the state's abortion laws, along with a 41-year-old south Asian refugee who died in his clinic after allegedly receiving improper medication and medical treatment.

But make no mistake: Abortion-rights supporters understand only too well what is at stake in that Philadelphia courtroom, which no doubt is one reason why so many people are so eager to ignore testimony that under other circumstances would be dominating the headlines.

Clinic employee Lynda Williams recalled how one baby reacted when she turned it over in preparation for death. “It jumped, the arm,” she stated. “I only do what I'm told to do . . . what I was told to do was snip their neck.”

The testimony of another employee was even more gruesome. Sherry West told the story of how a newborn placed in a pan “didn't have eyes or a mouth but it was screeching, making this noise. It was weird. It sounded like a little alien . . . I saw it and thought, 'What do you expect me to do?' ”

This is the reality of abortion, which is why so many of its apologists resort to euphemisms. It's not snipping the neck of crying, struggling pain-sensitive babies they support – it's a “woman's right to choose.”

The Gosnell case is ignored because it exposes the lie without which abortion on demand cannot survive – as big as the lie Norma McCorvey told when she claimed to have been raped in order to seek an abortion. The lie gave birth to the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, and has done its best to avoid scrutiny ever since.

And as those lies pile up, one on top of another, those who have been duped resort to tactics far more bizarre than simply refusing to report uncomfortable truths. Just this month alone:

*An Ohio woman sued an Akron abortion clinic for negligence after giving birth to a healthy daughter. Ariel Knights had sought the abortion believing that giving birth could endanger her life, but she is fine, too.

*In Indianapolis, meanwhile, about 100 people rallied in support of a woman who had been charged with murdering her unborn baby by drinking rat poison in a failed suicide attempt. Well, why not? If the IPFW Women's Studies Department can “celebrate” abortion, as it did last month, what's wrong with supporting someone who intentionally kills her 8-month-old baby?

*In Columbus, a young woman on the campus of Ohio State University was filmed as she stomped on an anti-abortion sign and asked onlookers whether they really want an “overpopulated earth . . . with a generation (of babies) born to crackheads.”

*Almost simultaneously, North Carolina abortionist offered a more honest version of her rant: “Let me see you adopt one of those ugly black babies,” he told pro-life activists.

Were abortion not involved, such a statement might be condemned as not only racist but genocidal. Nationwide, blacks accounted for 37 percent of the abortions in 2010 despite comprising just 12 percent of the population – many of those minority abortions no doubt taking place in Gosnell's clinic.

Some will insist that such horror stories are aberrations. But they are, in fact, consistent with the vision of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger. A supporter of Nazi-style eugenics, she called for the “elimination of human weeds” and wrote that blacks “breed carelessly and disastrously.”

Most supporters of abortion rights no doubt would recoil at such words, just as most Americans fervently believe they are more civilized than barbarians who plant bombs that tear even innocent children limb from limb.

But at least most terrorists are openly proud of their cause.

This column is the commentary of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The News-Sentinel. Email Kevin Leininger at kleininger@news-sentinel.com, or call him at 461-8355.